The floods that began in August 2011 and swept across the province of Sindh and parts of neighbouring Balochistan resulted in one of the most destructive disasters that Pakistan has experienced. More than five million people have been affected: 1.8 million people were left homeless and more than 2.2 million acres of crops were lost, resulting in agricultural losses of nearly $2 billion.

April 25, 2011 - The village of Zor Kaleh is nestled in a valley at an altitude of some 2,300 meters (7,500 feet) in Pakistan’s magnificent upper Swat valley. The snow-covered peaks of the Hindu Kush mountain range surround the village with its quaint wooden houses and vegetable gardens.

More than six months on, the humanitarian
crisis brought about by the worst flooding in Pakistan's history is far
from over. The IRC is providing clean water and health care, and
helping hard hit communities to rebuild vital infrastructure and kick start
their local economies.

Posted by Kate Sands Adams on March 22nd,
2011

In 2010 my International Rescue Committee
colleagues gave over 4.4 million people access to clean drinking water
and sanitation.

No group was more affected by the devastating
floods that swept through Pakistan this summer than farmers. The flooding
washed away or ruined entire swaths of agricultural land and destroyed
crops and stores of seeds needed for the coming planting season. Where
once good arable land provided families with regular crops, vast areas
have become barren, buried under sand and silt.

Now farmers are in a race against time
to plough fields and plant seeds before the end of the winter planting
season in December when it becomes too cold for crops to grow.

Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan,
November 24, 2010 - In a village in northwestern Pakistan where hundreds
of houses once stood, 20 local women have gathered in a small, undamaged
room in the only house left standing by a raging flood.

A small mat spread on the dirt floor
and a simple string bed are the room's only contents. Twenty people sleep
here when it is not being used as a community meeting place.

The women are here to talk about what
their lives have been like since the flood and their fears and hopes for
the future. "It was dark . . .

Three months after devastating
floods tore through Pakistan,
the country is still struggling to recover. So far a staggering 20 million
people have been affected by the flooding, including over 8 million who
have lost their homes. More than one million people remain in temporary
camps in Sindh and Baluchistan provinces where large tracts of land are
still under three to four feet of water.

Elsewhere, flood waters have receded
and many people have managed to return to their villages.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians who
were displaced by fighting between the Pakistanni army and the Taliban
last year in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province have returned to the
region only to find their homes, water systems and roads in ruins.

The IRC is helping communities in the
region rebuild and repair their water supplies, and distributing essential
items like quilts, mattresses and kitchen sets to returning families.

Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan 21 Dec 2009
- More than two months after the Pakistani military launched an offensive
in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, humanitarian aid organizations
are only now gaining access to the estimated 430,000 people who have fled
the fighting in the region.

From November 25 to December 10, the
International Rescue Committee is observing the "16 Days of Activism
against Gender Violence." Our colleagues in Pakistan shared this story
from Punjab Province:

A Pakistani woman named Mukhtar Mai made
news around the world in 2002 when she took a group of men to court after
they raped her in what they called "honor revenge" against her
family because of something Mai's brother had done.

Islamabad and Peshawar, Pakistan 13
Oct 2009 - Over the last month world attention has focused on the hundreds
of thousands of displaced people who have returned to their homes in Pakistan's
conflict-ridden Swat Valley. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) and
other aid groups are helping these people rebuild their communities and
lives.

To date, some 7,000 displaced Pakistanis
in the Jalozai camp near Peshawar have received IRC training in fuel-efficient
cooking, which has helped families free up much-needed household income.
The program has also helped protect women and children who normally spend
a significant amount of time daily collecting firewood from the areas surrounding
the camps, making them vulnerable to assault.

The IRC is repairing 20 schools that were
used to house thousands of people displaced by fighting between the Taliban
and Pakistan army.

Last summer, nearly 85 percent - over
two million people - of those displaced sought refuge in schools, where
they were could access electricity. The concrete structures also provided
much cooler than the tents in the camps.

The International Rescue Committee is launching
a program that will deliver lifesaving emergency relief to over 200 conflict-affected
villages in northwestern Pakistan. The project is funded by the U.S. Office
of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

"People are returning to villages
that have been damaged or destroyed by the fighting," said Mike Young,
the IRC's Pakistan country representative. "The displaced, as well
those who stayed behind, need extensive assistance in rebuilding their
homes and infrastructure.

Even as thousands of displaced Pakistani
families head home to the Swat district, thousands more are still fleeing
violence elsewhere in the country's volatile northwest, according to IRC
witnesses.

"Last week the IRC saw around 10,000
people fleeing continued fighting in the northwestern Swat, Bajaur and
Dir areas, streaming into one camp alone," said Mike Young, the IRC's
Pakistan country representative.

Islamabad 17 Jul 2009 - Thousands
of displaced Pakistanis who fled a military offensive against the Taliban
in the North-West Frontier Province began heading home this week after
the Pakistani government announced the first stage of plans to return them.
But for most people, returning back home is not an option.

"The crisis is far from over,"
said Mike Young, the IRC's Pakistan country representative.